Apparatus for winding elastic strands into spherical masses



Feb. 9, 1932. CROPPER 1,844,312

APPARATUS FOR WINDING ELASTIC STRANDS INTO SPHERICAL MASSES Filed Dec. 28, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1/ L75 E /zz 5 72 57 E 7 1 g 22 E 2/ "3 76 k I 1 16 75 S S S avwentoz 50/ 4/45 C/WPPE/i.

EIHWA T. CROPPER 1,844,312

APPARATUS FOR WINDING ELASTIC STRANDS INTO SPHERICAL MASSES Feb. 9, 1932.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 28, 1.928

v w W 0 u a Patented Feb. 9, 1932 UNETED stares riser THOMAS CHOPPER, F ERDINGTON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 DUNL OP l'tUBBER COhI IPANY, LIMITED, LONDON, ENGLAND, A BRITISH COMP ANY APPARATUS FOR WINDING ELASTIC ere-aims inro srnnnrcnr. MAssEs Application filed December 28, 1928, Serial No. 328,871, and in Great Britain'April 4, 1928.

This invention relates to a new or improved apparatus for winding elastic strands and particularly for winding them into or upon cores of golf or other balls.

It has been desired for some considerable time to attain mechanization and automatic ity in the performance of apparatus for winding elastic strands for the purpose specified and as the result numerous machines have been devised which operate to varying degrees of success.

In winding the strands it is necessary that they should not follow around a similar course at each convolution, for should they do so the product is not truly spherical which is essential for the purpose for which they are applied. Good results have been obtained from machinery having two horizontal rollers spaced laterally apart, and that have combined rotary and reciprocating motion imparted to them, the cores nesting between hem and being maintained in close frictional contact therewith by pressure rollers that are adapted to contact or impinge upon the cores at the topmost point.

With this type of apparatus however, owing to the peculiar motion imparted to the horizontal roller the winding is inclined to follow two definite courses around the surface of the core upon two diameters at right angles to one another. It is known however, that this particular effect can be'eliminated by varying intermittently the degree of load imposed by the pressure rollers and to apply it pulsatingly, there being a normal mean pressure and an intermittent pulsation of greater intensity so that upon the increased pressure the cohesion between the core and the rollers increases and the core is restrained in its rotation. Alternatively the pressure may be reduced and the core permitted a period of freedom.

It must be appreciated that in the winding the elastic strand is drawn under tension'on to the corefrom one side thereof and that it is necessaryto exert sufiicient pressure upon the core to prevent it from being pulled from between therollers;

Of machines hitherto constructed for permanually have been the most efiective in so far as it would seem that the operator has catered more or less naturally or unknowingly for certain factors which heretofore have not been recognized.

I have found for instance, that as the horizontal rollers are at a coustantdistance apart from one another, and therefore the core at the commencement of the winding is relatively small, it nests more snugly between them, but as it enlarges it will ride up the surfaces of the rollers and it will rest finally when the desired size has been attained, near the tops of the horizontal rollers. This chan ing of location of the cores has as a resultthe diminution of the resistance the horizontal rollers present to the tensioned strand.

I find that another adverse factor to be met with in the winding is that as the mass enlarges the corresponding enlarging of the radius permits a greater leverage to the tensioned strand, this factor together with the decreased resistance of the horizontal rollers combines to remove the core from'between the rollers. I

The pressure rollers therefore must exert a force sufficient to cater for these exigencies and it has been the practice heretofore to impose a maximum load throughout the winding, but in so doing the pressure at the commencement of the winding is'greater than it need be and that it detrimentally affects the winding. Q

' According to this invention means are provided in machines of the kind specified for relatively increasing the degree of load upon the pressure rollers as the mass enlarges during the winding, further means being provi ded to improve the functioning of the machines as a whole.

In order to render this invention perfectly clear I have appended hereunto drawings illustrating numerous examples wherein Figure 1 is a rear elevation in part section of an embodiment of the apparatus construct ed according to this invention; V Figure 2is an end view in section of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 3-is a further embodiment showing,

the piston formed as part of or connected to the pressure rollers supporting spindle.

Figure 4: is a fragmentary sectional view of a further embodiment.

Figure 5 illustrates diagrammatically the weightimposing means composedof a series of determinateelements.

Figure 6 is a detail view of a further e1nbodiment.

Referring to Figs.- 1-2 ofthedrawings, I

the: base =of theamaohinee and engaging; cam.

faces 5 at the ends of the rollers. The spindles are: rotated by gears.- engaged by a gear wheel upon 1 a xdrivingspindle provided upon which 4 a-retwo pulleys one of which lSdOOSG-r Rivotally secured. to. a lever.- 6 fulcrumedto, a bracket-.7- securedto the. frame of themachineis.- abracket. 8 which houses withinit suitable. spindles upon which are mounted rollers-9.. These rollers 9; are adapted. to impingevupon'the topjofithe-corel0 with aforce that is-greaterthan .thatexerted by the weight of therollers- To effect the. successful winding. of. thecores it. is. necessary, to produce; a: pressure upon the cores sufficient to.- cat-er forthe ten- I sion oftheestrand, and moreover. as ;previously; described. to. prevent the winding from following particular. courses aroundthecore, it.is-'necessary.to .vary the amountof pressure, suchwariations taking the form of an .addi-.

- tional greater impulse. To producethisad ditional impulse; I have provided .secured'ito thelever. Gand through-the medium of. alink 115 a\ 1i ston .12. which is housed within ,a. cylinder; The, piston is. influenced by compressed, fluid. admitted 'to. the cylinder: through the pipe 14 and-is. controlled bya.

valve; 15, the-"valve. 15. having; ports orr recesses 16-17.

Asstated. previously; it is. necessary to I maintain. a. mean-i pressure. upgonthe; cores throughoutrthe.winding, .andin an example of. the ,means adapted. for. this purpose. the, port 1.6 .in the ,valvell'iis adapted to be; continuouslyin communication with the. cylinder 13"through a port'lS.

To ,produce the greater loada further port 17 'int he valve loiis adapted' to communicate with a: port19 in the cylinder 13. Also provided within the cylinder 18 are further ort-s 20 through-which the-fluid is exhausted.

As will beappi'ecia-ted, the valve illus trated is adapted to'have impartedto it a rotary motion-through the mediumof a crank 21 pivoted to a connecting rod 22which'is pivoted at 23 to aerank pin secured'to a gear wheel 2 The gear wheel 2a is driven in any suitable manner, but 1n the form lllllS- trated takes the drive from a further gear 25 mounted upon one of the spindles 2.

The operation of the apparatus is such that fluid is admitted through the pipe. 14 and passes through the port 16'into the cylinder 13 and acts upon the piston 12 to raise it and thus to cause the rollers to press upon the core.

Duriiigthe rotation'of the valve 15 and when the port 17 is in communication with the' port 19 more 'ofthe fluid admitted through the pipe let is allowed to enter the cylinder and to act uponthe piston, thereby occasioning. a greater pressure. Upon further movement. of. the valve'the port 19 is closed and the fluid prevented from passingtherethrough. The greater'pressureis ren-.

dered; intermittent in its application by the continue d rotation .of; thevalve.

It isan essential featurevv of this invention that rat .least. the intermittent. greaterimpulse should increase in extent .as-thecore enlarges duringthewinding and in .theemeansadopte ed for this purpose I have providedxinthe.

cylinder 13-a-series of GXlIZLUSlDlHgTPOItSQO which "are closed successively. by the displacement ofthe piston .which, asthecore enlarges is forced lower into the cylinder Lfinditdesirable-however,.to provide a further. exhaustingportz 26 a which remains operative even when all the ports 20. areclosed:

I may if desired produce only the intermittent additional pressure through the medium' of fiuidrpressureand obtain the mean pressure through themediumof a spring.

or. equivalent element acting upon the pressure'roller mounting spindle and.in which.

case theports 16-18 wouldv be dispensed with,- see Fig. 2 .of' the drawings where the spring is indicated in dotted lines.

Alternatively aspring, or weight may be provided. to assist in applying the initial mean pressure. As illustrated .in Fig. 1 the valvel5 shown is adapted-to be rotated, but. it mustbe appreciated that-Ldo not-limit myself to'any particular construction of. suchvalve for lnstance, the valve may be adapt- .1' a

ed to reciprocate longitudinally, or it'may. have a. combined longitudinal rreciprocatmg. and rotary motion lmparted to it.

' ReferringtoFig. 3 the construction shownillustrates a piston-27secured to or forming. partofithe pressure roller mounting spindle 28 and moreover in this construction-linkage and 'leverage is dispensed with, the cylinder 29. being connected directly to the frame of the machine;

Also in this construction the weight of the piston may produce, the mean pressure and the fluid admitted throughthe portt30 controlled bya valve (not shown) iwoulda'ctonlyto produce the intermittent greater: im' 3 pulses. hausting closed as ing. 7

As stated previously, any type of valve may be used and further might be caused to act in any manner other than or as well as rotary. F or example in Fig. 4 the valve 32 is adapted to have imparted to it a longitudinal reciprocating motion, this being occasioned in any suitable manner,- for instance, as shown diagrammatically through the medium of a lever 83 acted upon by a cam 34.

In this construction the valve acts also in the manner of a piston and produces the in termittent greater impulses by the effect of its longitudinal reciprocation.

In operation the fluid directed to the port 35 and passing through the port 36 within the cylinder 3. produces the mean pressure and upon the valve 32 being moved longitudinally the port 35 is closed and the fluid contained within the recess 38 is forced into the cylinder and acts upon the piston in the manner required.

Likewise in this construction exhausting ports are provided for dissipating the pressure and are closed successively by the displacing piston.

According to a further embodiment of the apparatus according to this invention the pressure may be produced by determinate wei hting elements which, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 5, comprise a series of members 40 of diterent sizes or weight and which are freely mounted about an eX- tension 41 of the pressure roller mounting spindle. Normally the elements 40 are spaced away from one another and rest upon shoulders provided within a bearing 43, the position of which is determined in relation to the frame of the machine, and as shown the bearing 43 is adapted to rest upon an abutment 44 upstanding from the frame.

The function of this embodiment is such t as the core enlarges the pressure roller mounting spindle is raised. by an abutment or shoulder 45 upon the spindle 41 and engages and lifts the lowermost of the elements 40. Upon the further upward movement of the spindle each of the remaining members 40 are successively imposed until such time that all the elements 40 combine to produce a unitary element.

Further as shown there'are 'exs 7 i ports 31 wh1ch. are success1vely the core enlarges during the w1nd- In order to render the additional imposi tion intermittent the bearing 43 is raised during such period when only the mean pressure is required and lifts the elements 40 out of engagement with the spindle 41, the movement being occasioned as illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 5, by a lever 46 tulcrumed at 47 to the frame of the machine acted upon by a cam 48.

It must be appreciated that in the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 5 only the greater.

nor of effecting the pressure and shows aspring of the laminatedtype the leaves 50 of which are spaced away from one another by distance pieces 51 and which are united as a bodyby bolts 52 to a bracket member 58 that is adapted to be pivotally mounted at 54 to the frame of the machine. 1

As will readilybe seen the pressure roller mounting spindle .55 upon being raised due to the increasing core will tension each of the leaves successively.-

To apply the additional pressure intermittently a cam 56 is adapted to act upon a face 5'? and to force the bracketand s1 ring downwardly. If desired however, only one leaf may be provided. In this instance either the weight of the spring or an initial tension in it may be relied upon to produce the mean pressure, oralternatively a supplementary spring may be provided. I a

In constructing apparatus according to this invention the pressure applying means of the kind described need not be supplied with each apparatus, but maybe provided at a position or positions remote therefrom and may be adapted to actuate more than one device.

As shown at 59 I may it desired, provide a sleeve which is adapted to control the fluid dissipating orifices in the cylinders.

What I claim is V 1. In apparatus of the character desc'ibed comprisinghorizontal core supporting and rotating rollers, pressure rollers for main taming a core in close frictional contact with the supporting rollers, a'movaole support for saidlpressure rollers and means to impose a constantly acting loadpulsatingly upon the pressure rollers to effect intermittently an increased pressure upon the core, the apparatus being arranged so that at least they greater phase of the load applied to the coreis increased in magnitude as the core enlarges during the winding. 2. In an apparatus of the character described, a pair of core supporti and rotating rollers, means for moving them axially in opposite directions, pressure rollers mounted for movement toward and from the core supporting rollers, and means for automatically imposing a gradually increasing continuous load upon the pressure rollers as they recede from said supporting rollers.

-3.ln an apparatus of the character described, a. pair of core su} porting and rotating rollers, pressure rollers mounted for larges so as to movement toward and from said. core supportingrollers, and means: responsive; to

movement of'the pressure rollers away from.

said supporting rollers for: pulsatin-gly im=v posing a gradually increasing continuous sure;

5. Apparatus. as set forth in claim 11=Wl16I(-:

in determined Weighted elements, together \vith means actuated. by fluid L pressure. are utilized to effector to assist'in effecting the load upon the pressure rollers.

6. Apparatus of the-characterdescribed comprising a pair of horizontal? parallelly disposed core supporting and f rotating 1 01]: ers, means for: rotating saidrollers-in the same direction, means for: reciprocating said" rollers longitudinally, pressure exerting rollers to actupon acore, supporting means for said pressure rollers, a fluid actuated meme her for moving said'supporting means and a valve controlling sa-idfluidactuatedlmeim 7. Apparatus according to claim 6=and means to-actuate automatically saidvalve for controlling the fluidsoasto 'apply the fluid pressure pulsatingly. r V 8. Apparatusaccording to claim -6' includinga cylinder having ports for dissipating the fluid, said-ports being so' arranged that they are closed-successively as the core enincrease the 1 pressure Within the cylinder.

9. Apparatus as setforthin claim lwherein onlythe greater phase of the increasing intermittently applied load is eflected by fluid pressure devices. i

' 10. Apparatus according 'to claim'l having in combinationa-pair of horizontally par allelly disposedcore supporting rollers rotated by and influenced 'b'y means'to impart to them a rotary reciprocating motion, said rollers rotating in the same directionand'reciprocating longitudinally in opposite di-' rections, pressure rollers mounted'for movement towards and away from the horizontal rollers, said pressure rollers being influenced by a force aflectedextraneous to the: Weight thereof to maintain'the core in frictional contact With said horizontal rollers, said force being produced in part by an elastic member normally imparting a. load upon said pressure rollers, said force being further occassioned by fluid pressureacting Within a cylinder upon apiston operatively connected to the said pressure roller mounting means, the fluidbeing admitted to said cylinder through a port Which has such movement imparted'to it to admit'said fluid pe-'- riodically to produce intermittent impulses, said cylinder having therein exhausting ports to dissipate the pressure, said exhausting.

portssbeing: controlled by said. piston; and;

closeisuccessively a:

creasingnoree In Witness Wh my name.

' ,THoMAs oRoPPER. 

